Training Ground
by 50-cal
Summary: Naruto strives to grow stronger to return Sasuke. Sakura however is beginning to give up on hope. Naruto and Hinata Start to form a relationship, but feelings for Sakura throw him into chaos. Meanwhile someone waits from the sidelines for a chanc to strik
1. Training Ground 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, but I'm working on changing that

**Claimer: **The plot, scenarios, and any other introduced characters and elements are mine, but I'll share if you ask

**Notes & Foreword: **this is my first fic so… yeah…

Takes place slightly ahead of current manga arc. Diedara's dead, Sasuke is still rouge and Naruto is still naïve. After the trails the last two Uchiha are lost Sakura begins to lose hope, Naruto refuses to quit and tries to renew her determination as his promise obliged him to; despite his personal wishes. I intend this to be long, and ill try too keep my chap's coming all best I can.

Please remember to review, constructive criticism welcome and needed. Flame if you want, but remember that if you do, I'll kill you and rape your father in prison.

**Beware of strong lemons later: pairings are: NaruX?? And NaruX??**

Like I'm gunna tell you

Regular speech

_Inner thoughts or flashback speech_

**Kyuubi speech or general yelling**

_**Kyuubi thought**_

­­­­ Related change of character focus or place, short changes is time

………………….. Long passages of time, unrelated change of character focus

Without any further ado, the main Presentation!

­­­­­­

Uzumaki Naruto sat on his haunches, looking down at the spot where once he sat tied to the log he was  
perched on right now. Nearly four years had passed since then, when Naruto officially became part of team seven, and Naruto was no longer the hyper-active loudmouth he used to be. He was a new brand of hyperactive loudmouth, because now he could back up nearly all of his boasts. But despite his best efforts he couldn't keep all of his promises. Sasuke remained on the run, all signs of him lost, and the same was true for his brother, Itachi.

Naruto cursed as he recounted his failure, feeling just as helpless as he did those four years ago; tied to log he sat on now.

"One Kagebuushin… I couldn't take out just one of Itachi's Kagebuushin. I still haven't gotten to that level of skill… and that is my best jutsu" Naruto sat and thought, for once in his life, and tried to break down the fight and find an answer to his dilemma.

_Itachi uses his jutsu so fast that even Kakashi could barely match his pace. And his Sharingan is even better than Sasuke's, sot that means he could know thousands of jutsu. How can I compete with that? Well... I might have more stamina than him… but I can't use mine as well as he can. I need to find some kind of weakness, some kind of trick to beat him. I need more jutsu than I have now, I need… more than I think I can get._

He let his head down with a sigh. He needed to master more powerful jutsu, _and_ beat the Sharingan. Was it even possible for him to do all this? With Jiraiya MIA and Kakashi busy with missions Naruto had little resources on that end. Where else could he learn high-level techniques?

"The only other place I could learn a good jutsu would be…," he thought aloud. And the answer hit him like a train. He did it once before! If he could learn Kagebuushin, then just maybe…

But he faulted just a step away from the log. It was a forbidden scroll, he would bet he needed to be a Jounin or better to get access to the damn thing, and he knew he couldn't afford to try and steal it again. That would end his chances at being a Hokage . But there had to be other options, another way to learn what he needed to! As he charged away from the training ground, his belly rumbled (well, more like roared). He'd pay Old Man Ichiraku a visit; maybe he'd have an idea as to what to do.

A pile of bowls stood at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, twenty strong and growing. Naruto as he waited for his next bowl to finish cooking spoke to his good friend behind the bar.

"Hey, old man, I need to find a good way to learn something, but I don't know where to go. Do you know of a way I could get some skill with new jutsu?"

Ichiraku thought for moment or two. "Well I don't know about Ninjutsu all that much, but if you wanna learn anything I know the Konoha Library is a great place to start."

Naruto's face wore a guilty grin. In his academy days he was supposed to go to the library several times. But he always managed to avoid going into a place of "serious learning" which was just as well. He was too loud to be allowed in more than once, at least the Naruto of those days was. But he still had no idea of what library procedure would be like.

But if they had ninja scrolls, it wasn't much of a choice in Naruto's mind. He would have to do what he would have once called unthinkable… he would actually have to think, in a library no less. Naruto, looking slightly glumly pulled his cash from his frog wallet and put the total cost on the counter and thanked Ichiraku. As he turned to leave he looked into his wallet, realizing he needed to get some more pocket money, and as he was closing it a paper shuriken made from a few bills of money flew into his wallet. Naruto turned to see a smiling Ichiraku, whose arm was outstretched, having thrown the paper shuriken.

"I only said I didn't know _much_ about Ninjutsu," he said with a Naruto-like grin, "consider that a discount". Naruto walked on with a n even greater respect for Old Man Ichiraku

He stood before it, a massive titan that scared him just as much as Itachi, if Itachi had a curse seal, all nine Bijuu, and had eaten a bag of Akimichi red pills for lunch. Otherwise this was scarier.

Much Scarier.

It didn't seem so bad when he was working his way to the "Downtown" section of Konoha. Hell it seemed to be a real good idea even. But now the door may as well have the words "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" written in blood over the front door. Naruto slowly turned away and kept walking, but stopped only a short way down. He was looking, from a long way, the face of the hospital. He couldn't help but think of Sakura, whom this entire trip, indirectly, was for. Bound by his nindo, he turned about, and entered the Konoha library.


	2. The Renovation of Konoha Library

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. But operation GLOMP is underway. we may see a change yet!

**Claimer: **The plot, scenarios, and any other introduced characters and elements are mine, but I'll share if you ask

**Notes & Foreword: **this is my first fic so… yeah…

Takes place slightly ahead of current manga arc. Diedara's dead, Sasuke is still rouge and Naruto is still naïve. After the trails the last two Uchiha are lost Sakura begins to lose hope, Naruto refuses to quit and tries to renew her determination as his promise obliged him to; despite his personal wishes. I intend this to be long, and ill try too keep my chap's coming as best I can.

Please remember to review, constructive criticism welcome and needed. Flame if you want, but remember that if you do, I'll kill you and rape your father in prison, BADLY.

**Beware of strong lemons later: pairings are: NaruX?? And NaruX??**

Like I'm gunna tell you

Regular speech

_Inner thoughts or flashback speech_

**Kyuubi speech or general yelling**

_**Kyuubi thought**_

---------------------­­­­ Related change of character focus or place, short changes is time

………………….. Long passages of time, unrelated change of character focus

Without any further ado, the main Presentation, Bitches!

**Chapter 2 "The Renovation of the konoha Library  
**

It was slightly creepy looking on the inside, and Naruto didn't find that helpful. Everything in the large building was made from old but well polished wood. A high ceiling gave a sense of space despite the dense collections of towering shelves that occupied it. The light poring in from the large, high-mounted windows reflected off anything and everything, giving the room an ambient golden glow. But the constant flow of dust gave the entire place a foreboding sense of great age, and the utter silence was nothing less than deathly in degree.

As nothing had leapt out to kill him, and the books tamely lay on their shelves, Naruto walked further in, towards the desk that stood in the middle of the vast room. He whispered a somewhat timid "hello?" but received no response. His worry grew at this and he approached the situation like a ninja, instead of as a craven coward. He summoned several clones and dispersed them around the building. After about a minute he felt one dissipate, and he and his clones all moved in a tactical pattern to the location of the disappearance. From between the shelves he listened to a pair of voices, muffled by the dust in the air.

"I'm sure I heard someone just now," one said. Naruto determined it to be a female voice, but couldn't tell to whom it belonged. He pulled away, and his clones mimicked his action. But he heard one fall, and as it dispersed, he knew that, in its (or his own) clumsiness slid on a layer of dust. He retreated quickly and turned at the end of the aisle, hoping to outflank whomever it was he heard. But he looked up to see a ninja clad in white, with a mask over their face and a bandana over their head, wielding a long tool with a scalpel-like blade at the end. Completely outmaneuvered, he transformed into a log, hoping to trick his foe into thinking he'd replaced himself. His foe screamed and turned around. He was up in an instant holding a kunai to his opponent's throat, and the arm wielding the tool restrained behind their back.

"N-N-N Naruto-Kun?" Hinata whimpered. A pair of now quite teary white eyes were looking at him tremulously. At last his brain caught up with the situation and he let Hinata go, both of them looking beet red.

"Gomen!" he yelped out, embarrassed of is assumption, "Ano… no one was here and I thought you were an enemy ninja, or something," he trailed off.

Hinata gasped lightly (for multiple reasons) and gathered herself enough to say "I guess I could say the same". They shared a nervous chuckle that became a general laugh at the sheer stupidity of the scenario.

Naruto had sobered up first. "So why are you in this dusty old place? I thought you'd have a mission or something now" he asked with his trademark grin.

Hinata, who had finally calmed down, realized fully who she was talking to, and promptly lost her composure. "Ano… this actually is a m-mission," she stuttered out, "I'm here restoring some of the older b-books and scrolls here, and doing general maintenance". The general look of the place indicated that this was needed, but Naruto still didn't know…

"But who requested the mission?" asked the boisterous ninja. Who'd wanna fix a bunch of old books anyway?

­

"That would be me," said a voice from a nearby doorway. Naruto stepped forward to get a look at its source. He was greeted by a smiling yet somewhat sickly looking Udon. Naruto was surprised to se that he'd grown since they last met, taller and with an almost mature air about him. Maybe this was his "I'm not with Konohamaru" persona. Naruto could not help but notice that he looked not entirely unlike the traitor Kabuto, bearing a nonchalant smile and glasses on his visage.

"Let me explain the important details for you,"  
...  
Udon explained, to a Naruto-appropriate level of detail, his involvement with the library. Udon's family acted as the keepers of the knowledge that was compiled in the village. The Nara's who dedicated themselves to processing and acquiring the knowledge, had entrusted them to its storage, so that they could be free of the hassle of organizing it. Udon seemed to be passionate about his work, but still the library had been seeing less and less use as time passed. Udon's parent's already had enough to manage of the Hokage's private volumes that were lost in the sand-sound raid, so extra help had been needed here.

"So…" the Hokage-to-be began "the library needs to be fixed up, this I can do! We'll have it done in a few hours". Taking only what he needed to from the conversation, he jumped into action, without a second thought, and possibly without the first one either. "So, what can I do, and what is the deal with the crab-opener?" The tool Hinata held indeed looked like a crab-claw, and seemed completely unfit for your average library.

"We were repairing some of the old books that had deteriorated…" Udon began, but before he got started on what was sure to be an enlightening and thorough monolog, Naruto asked if he could help.

Instantly excuses to keep Naruto away from the archaic tomes flew faster than shuriken in a shinobi war, and he was told to clean up the main floor of the library, while the door behind him snapped shut sharply. However, the cause was quite evident. Everyone except for Naruto knew this simple equation:

(Naruto + delicate items) x shadow clones equals bad squared

So Naruto, in his unparalleled inability to do subtlety, decided to tackle this new task in one fell swoop. They hadn't wanted his help in there, and he was a little miffed about it. There was nothing he couldn't do, and he decided had to prove it. Three hundred Kagebuushin later, the renovation of the Konoha library had unofficially begun.

The last vestiges of sunlight poured into the "rare books room". Nearly thirty volumes that were a soft breeze away from disintegration had been salvaged, and Hinata and Udon were exhausted. Hinata wondered what the point was of restoring a book that was written in characters that no one alive could read, but Udon had simply said that "no book was a waste". As the pair opened the door to what Udon lovingly called the "stacks" they were frozen at what they saw.

This wasn't the same library they were in a few hours ago. The whole room was brighter, despite the waning sunlight. Everything shined as thought it had been polished, and there was a massive domed window in the ceiling. New tables and chairs were placed on a second level that stood on pillars that looked like trunks of massive trees. Could Naruto have done all this? But the proof of the impossible was obvious.

Naruto sat idly at a table near the door, with a stack of books on either side of him, turning pages almost idly. The image, as it was, seemed normal, but to those in the know, they might as well have seen four flaming horsemen followed closely by The End of Days. It was so contradictory that anyone who knew Naruto would have felt heavily insulted, for no particular reason. Hinata stood gaping in a low grade state of shock. Udon was gawking like he did in his academy days. Naruto noticed them at last, asking if they'd finished, with no hint of concern at their gaping mouths or wide-eyed stares. Udon was the first to respond. "How, exactly, in the hell did you…"

"Well it wasn't really all that big a deal," Naruto said. unaware that his procession of shadow clones carrying lumber had caused a bit of a stir. "Hell I did it just to say that I did. And you didn't think I couldn't handle fixing up a library!" Naruto said with a hint of gloating. It was plainly obvious that while he was clever enough to pull this stunt off, and resourceful enough to do it in the span of a few hours. He was still, in the greater scope of things, an utter idiot.

Udon, lost in the sheer madness of it all, gave up and decided to go inspect his "newly renovated" library. Hinata however, felt brave enough to comment. "Naruto… what you did here is really amazing, but isn't this a bit much?" Naruto grinned his wide smile at her, "Well… the window might have been a bit much, but in the end I liked it. Here I was thinking that this library thing was gunna be a big deal!" This induced a nervous chuckle from Hinata. She shyly looked away at the stacks of books on either side of him. _Basic Ninjutsu Theory, Origins of Ninjutsu, Chakra at a glance._ Naruto had started perusing through these books, and was currently deep into a thick hard-bound volume with no title on its spine. Hinata's curiosity finally beat out her shyness. "Naruto-Kun, what is that?" She asked, intrigued by the books odd appearance.

"I'm not entirely sure… it's a research journal, made about twenty years ago. It seems kinda random. Theories about Ninjutsu, and some test results I think. I don't get too much of it. But whoever did this was a genius. There are some jutsu with names that don't make much sense… but this one here is kinda odd…? It looks like a movement jutsu… I wonder…"

Hinata had never seen Naruto actually concentrate to this degree. She looked closely at his stern focused expression, and found it… attractive. He had always seemed cute to her, but this wasn't cute… it was handsome… even sexy.

Hinata rushed herself back to reality. "Sorry Naruto-kun but… I HAVE TO GO, BYE!" before Naruto had looked up completely she was gone, charging towards home in a full chakra-enhanced sprint. She didn't know why she panicked; she just couldn't handle those thoughts… unless no one was around to hear her rwach down and…

_No I shouldn't think like that_!

…………………………..

Naruto had continued to read, unabashed by Hinata's awkward exit. The passage he was in was handwritten in quick but precise calligraphy, taking a brief history of some vague ninjitsu theory:

"_A ninja must be skilled in stealth, combat strength, and infiltration, among many other things. The element of speed facilitates all of these and thus is a crucial ability to any ninja. A long sought skill, the ability to move at unlimited speed has been attempted numerous times with disastrous results. The theory for every attempt was sound, but every test ended with a shinobi exploding into a wall of flesh and blood. And I at last have found the cause and its solution. If a ninja moves at a high pace, the wind passing him slows him down. The faster he moves, the more force he feels. Assuming one went fast enough the air itself would injure him. The simplest act would be to slow down, and in this case the simplest is the most prudent. But this would limit any ninja's speed, and in fact does. To beat this flaw in ninja motion, a thin barrier of chakra can pierce the air and allow for freed movement (a wind affinity would be of use here). I call this infinite speed as a parody. By no means is the motion limitless, but it achieves as much as can be done to that goal._

Naruto leaned back and soaked in what he had read. _I actually get it. It's so simple. Man this library thing is awesome!_ Dusk had gone and Naruto, as blunt as ever, took one last look over the list of seals and charged back in the direction of the memorial stone, there was a jutsu to learn and sleep would have to wait.


	3. Did He Just?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, but I'm working on changing that

**Claimer: **The plot, scenarios, and any other introduced characters and elements are mine, but I'll share if you ask

**GLOMP Update: **After delivering the ultimatum after the first serious glomping Kishimoto has not opened negotiations, despite having been heavily glomped on multiple occasions. I will have to increase the number of "glomp-sassins" to improve results here. Naruto will be mine!

Naruto… Reading? In a mother fuing library? Well it happened. Deal. But on his way to use his new found knowledge, but is intercepted by circumstance. OHHHH this is gunna be funnnn!

Regular speech

_Inner thoughts or flashback speech_

**Kyuubi speech or general yelling**

_**Kyuubi thought**_

--------------------­­­­ Related change of character focus or place, short changes in time

………………….. Long passages of time, unrelated change of character focus

Without any further ado, the main Presentation!

Haruno Sakura walked almost unconsciously, a grueling night at the hospital had taken all she had, and she needed rest. But though sleep would win in the end she never could find rest. In truth she took on such a hellish workload to take her mind off _him._ She did all she could to avoid the pain instead of confronting it. But despite her best efforts, there were moments where she would find her thinking of him, and times where she would drift off her course to a place where she'd had a moment with him. She was approaching the bridge were Kakashi would meet them, always late, and she didn't even know it until she was there. She walked to the rail and looked over into her own reflection. No matter what she looked like, she could always see the bleakness inside her when her reflection gazed her down. The tears were just starting to well up when she felt a presence stop a few steps away. She looked up to see Naruto there with an ambient smile on his face growing at the sight of her. "Oh… hey" she barely uttered.

_Oh great, she's already pissed. This may not end well…_

"Ano… Sakura, its funny that I ran into you here!" he said with his hand behind his head, "I was actually going to the old training area". He vividly recalled that team seven first officially met for a mission on that very bridge. It would seem that Sakura was very reminiscent as well.

"You haven't changed a bit Naruto" Sakura said with a small smirk. "You still work yourself to death just to say that you did". She was starting to laugh at this point. "but no matter what you do, or I do, Sasuke still won't come back!"

Her laughter rose to a state of nothing less than deranged before it fell to sobs and tears, "No matter how much I love him, or how hard I try… **I'M SO WORTHLESS**!"

Sakura didn't get any further as a large water balloon had detonated in her face, squelching any further self-abuse. The water itself then dispersed into smoke, as it was, in truth, a transformed Kagebuushin.

"**No one insults my Sakura-Chan! Not even Sakura-Chan!"**

Sakura looked up with a true look of shock; he wouldn't hit her, no matter how angry she made him. He had settled for a water balloon. And did he say "my"?

"Don't forget that I promised to get him back for you. Do you think I take my Nindo so lightly?" his tone was much gentler now, like he'd suddenly run out of steam. Sakura for once looked Naruto in the eyes while he looked back, and knew she was right. Her words had scorned Naruto's Nindo. Sakura finally realized….

She had really hurt him.

"Naruto…" she called as the pain welled up within her again, "I'm sorry but… I can't just fight forever like you do. I get tired, I need to rest, I can't just forget the pain and fatigue, the insults and guilt and _the loneliness_! The hope kills me more than it helps me! And what's worse is that you keep putting that hope in my heart! And I… I…" She fell to her hands and knees, sobs and tears pouring from her without any grief to spare for shame.

Naruto, as always when it came to Sakura, was at a loss as to what to do. This wasn't the Sakura that he knew. This was Sakura as she truly was, without a front to protect her. He was very bad at sensitive situations, how was he supposed to help? He kneeled next to her and tried his best anyway.

"I know that it's been hard and all but… really we've all gotten stronger for all that's happened. And you'll grow stronger from this too…" he tried his best to find the right thing to say, but she snapped at his pause.

"But how strong do I have to be? She spat at him, her emotions thrashing out of control.

Naruto was panicking in his head. _ I need something good to say or I'm taking the express flight over the village wall!! Umm… something like a poem or song…_ his brain found something and latched on. "The journey's more important than the end or the start" he said aloud.

"What?!" she said._What kina bullshit is that!?_

Naruto took the moment to start (saving his ass), "Think about it, if you had waited for Sasuke and done nothing, how would you feel? If you were no stronger or had wasted all this time, how dumb would you seem to yourself? And what would happen after? You'd have been out four years, just because it's difficult, but we both know that you're better than that. So stand up and be ready for the day he comes back!"

_Phew, that was a total save!_

Naruto's words were a cold slap in the face. She'd forgotten about her own growth and change during these three years. She done it all for Sasuke but over time she didn't even acknowledge herself in it all. She stood up slowly and quietly, never looking at Naruto. "You're right," she said, as calmly as she could, "I've come a long way." She finally looked at him as tears cascaded from her eyes. "No, we've come along way. But even if… no when we find him, I'll show him that trying to do it all alone isn't good enough, for neither him, you, nor I."

Naruto looked to her with a warm amiable smile, not the giant ear-to-ear grin he usually wore. "That's the Sakura-chan I know." That was all she could bear. The kunoichi stepped to Naruto and hugged him, burying her head to his chest with tears and sobs.

"Thank you Naruto," she stuttered between sobs, "For… saving me"

Naruto, odd against odds, didn't flip out to the close contact, instead calmly returning the embrace. His next action was a surprise to Sakura. Naruto pressed his lips to Sakura's forehead. He didn't mean to do it, but his body took action for the feelings his mind repressed. The shock was so great that Sakura stopped sobbing, though tears were not abashed.

"I think you'll be okay now, take care Sakura" With that he walked off, not looking back. After a distance, he leapt away, leaving a rush of wind in his wake.

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**A/N:** There, I got the emotional lovey chapter out of the way. This chap does not count as a Sakura bash. There may be one eventually. But primarily… PLEASE REVIEW!! I need feedback please. OR I CAN UNLEASH THE MOTHER FUKING FURY!


	4. Dreams and Dreams

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, but I'm working on changing that

**Claimer: **The plot, scenarios, and any other introduced characters and elements are mine, but I'll share if you ask

**GLOMP Update:** After a thorough glompage, Kishimoto has opened up negotiations for ownership rights to Naruto. We will be meeting soon to discuss details. I had better brush up on my Japanese, or shell out for an interpreter. We'll see

WTF!!!? Did Naruto actually have the nerve to do that. The world may be ending. But the sweet relationship/lemony goodness will happen later. Don't like it? TOO BAD.

Regular speech

_Inner thoughts or flashback speech_

**Kyuubi speech or general yelling**

_**Kyuubi thought**_

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………………….. Long passages of time, unrelated change of character focus

Lets Get this shit poppin!  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto fretted in his sleep, despite having finally fallen into his comfy bed. Unconscious to the waking world he was very aware of other things within himself, namely a certain something with nine red tails.

"**Well kit, it seems to have been a while since we last met. I'd expect to see my landlord come by and do maintenance after a while. Don't you think it'd be good for business?"** The fox roared at the irony of his own joke. **"And boy do you need to get to work! Look at this mess!"**

Naruto simply didn't get the point of Kyuubi's rant. His mindscape was the same as it always had been, dark murky and covered in water. What had really Changed? "What do you mean?! I don't see a mess in here!" and truly the only thing inside of Naruto's mindscape were the dull pale walls and the shin high level of water that flowed everywhere.

"**You've made it quite clear that my smallest tail is smarter than you, kit. Just look at the water, can't you tell what it is?" **

Naruto looked down at the pool beneath him. It was higher than before, but nothing noticeable to him. Bent over and scooped some of the fluid up into his hands. The water that was normally dark and clear, was now bright and opaque and the image of a sky dotted with clouds was playing on the surface. The image blurred and for a while Naruto didn't know what had happened, until he heard it.

It was his own voice, crying softly, but the sound wasn't from the water in his hand, it was playing from within his head, as though remembering it. Finally the connection clicked. This was the day he first failed the academy exam. He could now vividly recall where he had fled the building and lain in a field and cried and screamed his frustration at the word that had exiled him. Sickened by the recollection, he let the image drip away and fall from his hand.

"What… is… this?" he asked to no one in general.

"**Ugh! What is wrong with you! These are your thoughts kit! Your memories, your dreams, everything that goes through your twisted little head floats here, gathering dust. Is it really so hard to understand?"**

Naruto at last understood. But understanding only brought more questions for him.

"But, does that mean that you….?"

"**Yes; everything you seen, I've seen: all that you've lived, I have lived. We're not too dissimilar, you and I. We both have lived in pain. We are both animals of a sort; we both have the same elemental needs. And that brings me the reason you are here now. You may not believe it, but your relation ship with the pink headed one… I wish to…"**

The great beast paused, his glaring eyes even diverting away from Naruto's as it thought for the right words.

"**I wish it to be fruitful"** it finally said

Naruto let the words sink in for a moment. "_wish it to be…"_

"PERVERT!" he screamed, "I'm surrounded by them! But I won't let you shame my Sakura, ero-kitsune!"

"**Fool! You try going without a good romp for two-hundred years!"**

"It's not my fault you couldn't get any! And it's not my problem!"

Naruto had had enough and his image dispelled before the Kyuubi's eyes. Naruto had woken and the fox was again alone. It stretched a prodigious claw through the bars of its cage, and let the savage tip touch the water. It retraced with a small droplet, insignificant in comparison with the size of the fox, clinging to it. Kyuubi put it close to its great eye and looked into it. A small blurry image of two bodies entangled intimately was shown for him. The image grew clearer and on figure bore pink hair, and the other bore blonde. And as the image grew clearer, the droplet grew larger. While he watched Kyuubi laughed to himself.

"**DENY IT ALL YOU WANT, BUT IT WON'T MATTER! I HAVE PLANTED THE SEED, AND WITH IT I WILL ACHIEVE **_**MY**_** DREAMS!"**

……………………

Naruto jumped from his bed, screaming. That damn fox had gone too far. He, the great Naruto-sama to be, could never bring himself down to the common acts of perversion. He'd seen enough in his travels with the perverted hermit, in fact more than he ever wanted to see. Besides it wasn't like Naruto wanted to… well Sakura was pretty and all, but… well if Naruto could have whatever he wanted… ugh. Naruto had to admit to himself the temptingness of that offer.

"**Kami-sama what am I supposed to do?!"** he bellowed. **"It's not my fault!"**

Naruto dressed, ate, and left in the span of about two minutes and headed to check every bath in town to find a certain frog hermit, who had a date with the wrong end of Naruto's right hook.

--------------------------

Jiraya had regained his composure after repressing a potent sneeze during his "research". As his focus cleared he was disappointed to see that his view did not. The dry cool air had nearly tripled the steam from the bath, and his view was reduced to various curvy shapes. Nice curvy shapes, even excellent in some cases, but his research was still doomed to fail. Still, he waited for a gentle breeze to blow away the steam to reveal his goal to him. He patiently watched from his perfectly concealed hiding place, high in the branches and leaves of a full green pine until…

Click

Jiraya turned to see Naruto hand a disposable camera to himself, and this other self multiply and vanish into the trees behind him. Jiraya's stare was worthy of an award for "Most Intense but Ambiguous Facial Expression". If he were to make any sound it would be either a angered roar or a pathetic whimper. Naruto, meanwhile, looked at Jiraya with an evil look rivaling Yamato's, and kindly dictated his terms.

"Ero-Sennin, you have caused me a major problem, and now you're going to help me fix it. If not, Tsunade, unlike last time, will have more than enough reason to beat you to an inch _past your life!_ "

Jiraya raised his hands in defeat, unsure of his crime (other than the obvious) and said as calmly as possible:

"Sure, whatever you want"

----------------------------

"Soooo Naruto, you at long last have discovered the tempting powers of Women. I was beginning to worry if you ever would!" exclaimed a surprisingly_ proud_ Jiraya. "Though you may be a _bit_ young for 'em, I could loan you my books series, they may be very helpful here…"

"**NO! I'M NOT LIKE YOU, ERO-SENIN!!!" **he bellowed.

"Ah! But are you really one pure enough to call me that? Those who judge harshly are judged as such later, you know!" said the Sannin. "_Hah! Got him now!"_

"I'll deal with my judgment later, but Tsunade will judge you right now if you get cute." The most evil tone in his voice conveyed the seriousness of the matter. "But really, what am I supposed to do, "the 'what if's' are killing me, and how am I going to be able to function around Sakura?"

"First," The Toad Sage began, "I'm confident you may never truly function with her around." _I know that one from experience._ "Second, you have to learn to accept that this mess in your head is normal, and if you can, these feelings will fall into proper place. Lastly I give this piece of advice to you. It will benefit you more than anyone else, be sure to remember that, But otherwise it's simple. Just tell her how you feel. Show her that you care for her, and that these new "feelings" are making things difficult. Don't get into too much detail, just bring her to speed. Will she return your feelings; probably not. Will she look at you funny for a while; yes. Will it help the both of you function together better than if you hadn't; definitely. You get all that, brat?"

A somber Naruto looked back at Jiraya, his eyes almost pleading, "Will it really help?"

"Yes Naruto, but it still won't be easy"

"Ok then, I'll do it… -ttebayo," he added, signifying his return to a "Naruto" grade of normalcy.

"And Naruto… about that picture…"

"400,000 yen, my mailbox, sundown. Try anything, and I'll Show Tsunade _all_ of the shots I have of you in the act" and with that Naruto's clone vanished.

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**A/N:** Yes that's right, Naruto just made Jiraya pay up for his evil ways. but jiraya's revrnge will be quite nasty. but all in due time. NOW ALLYOURREVIEWSAREBELONGTOME!


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